{"id":534347,"date":"2026-03-11T23:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534347\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T23:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T23:59:11","slug":"northland-boxing-champ-lani-daniels-to-make-big-splash-at-manu-world-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/534347\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland boxing champ Lani Daniels to make big splash at Manu World Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniels will compete alongside former All Black Piri Weepu, acclaimed chef Peter Gordon, and Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who famously joined the competition spontaneously last year and has officially registered this time around.<\/p>\n

Also taking part are Charlie Pomee, K\u2019Lee and Azura Lane joined by strongman Rongo Keene \u2013 known as \u201cThe Warrior\u201d \u2013 travelling US content creator JManGo, and actor Bruce Hopkins, best known for his role as Gamling in The Lord of the Rings.<\/p>\n

For Daniels, who hails from Pipiwai, a rural Northland community of around 300 people that has built a reputation as a hotbed of manu talent, the event is another opportunity to inspire young people \u2013 and in particular w\u0101hine. She hopes to keep up the success in the finals.<\/p>\n

Pipiwai\u2019s Brooklyn Kay won the Kids Female title at the 2024<\/a> grand final and returns this year with another shot at the crown.<\/p>\n

\"There\u2019llThere\u2019ll be a big splash when the Z Manu World Champs Grand Final is held in Auckland on Saturday, with several Northlanders taking part.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to be representing Pipiwai alongside kids like Brooklyn,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I\u2019m a M\u0101ori girl from Pipiwai on a mission. I\u2019m always looking to bring my best \u2013 whether that\u2019s from the Manu platform or in the ring. I\u2019ve been practising a bit with my cousins at home at The Toka in Pipiwai. Bombing and doing Manus in the water is part of our culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Event director Scott Rice says it feels fitting to highlight Daniels\u2019 involvement on International Women\u2019s Day and acknowledge the incredible female talent seen throughout the competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Z Manu World Champs is certainly not just a spot for men,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen phenomenal w\u0101hine competing throughout the country<\/a>. At the Grand Final, 135 finalists will battle it out for titles across youth and adult divisions for both male and female competitors, along with an \u2018Anything But a Manu\u2019 freestyle category for techniques that aren\u2019t the traditional V-shape entry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reigning Adult Female champion Shonte To\u2019a (Ng\u0101puhi) has also qualified out of Waikato and will return to defend her title.<\/p>\n

The event will be held at Karanga Plaza, Viaduct Harbour, on March 14 as part of Moana Auckland – New Zealand\u2019s Ocean Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniels will compete alongside former All Black Piri Weepu, acclaimed chef Peter Gordon, and Police Minister Mark Mitchell,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[1929,64,63,1018,265189,16485,802,24978,203940,15750,8812,15749,10873,265187,123644,61397,2975,265186,85,265188,84996,319,1720],"class_list":["post-534347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-at","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-big","tag-bombs","tag-boxer","tag-boxing","tag-champ","tag-champs","tag-daniels","tag-heavyweight","tag-lani","tag-make","tag-manu","tag-multiple","tag-northland","tag-ring","tag-splash","tag-sports","tag-threw","tag-titles","tag-to","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}